If you noticed big yellow buses driving around yesterday and seriously questioned whether or not you forgot to enroll your kids in school this year, don’t panic. That is, of course, unless your kids attend one of four Project L.I.F.T. schools on a year-round Continuous Learning Calendar (CLC). Those campuses include Thomasboro Academy, Bruns Academy, Druid Hills Academy and Walter G. Byers School.
The year-round school calendar doesn’t mean kids (and teachers and parents) don’t get any time off. They just get smaller chunks of time off with greater frequency. Rather than shutting down for three straight months in the summer, a time when progress gained during the academic year is lost, Continuous Learning Calendars at CMS include two “intercessions”: three weeks off in the fall and two weeks off in the spring plus about six weeks in the summer between the last day of school in June and the first day of school in July. Not bad if you ask me.
According to a press release from Project L.I.F.T., “Intercessions keep students refreshed and engaged with activities that would otherwise be unavailable to them. For educators, a CLC ensures greater continuity of instruction and makes the fall semester more productive.”
Project Leadership & Investment for Transformation (L.I.F.T) is a five-year public/private partnership aimed at laying the infrastructure necessary to achieve 90% proficiency in reading and math for 90% of students in nine struggling west Charlotte schools. The ultimate goal is to hit a 90% graduation rate at West Charlotte High School, the measure of success for the program’s 90/90/90 promise.
Project L.I.F.T. targets West Charlotte High School by implementing programs there and in 8 of its feeder elementary and middle schools. Yesterday marked the beginning of the program’s fourth year in action.
Photos via Project L.I.F.T.
